Happy New Year neighbors!
It’s another grand – but cold – day in the West Central Neighborhood.
We held our first Member Meeting of the new year on Monday, January 15th. This was also the first meeting of your “new” board, listed at the bottom of this letter. Now being 2024 also means it’s time to renew your WCNA membership! If you aren’t sure whether you’re all up to date please reach out to us at membership@westcentralneighborhood.org. The great news is that now you can have your membership auto-renew each year by completing it through our website. Just click here.
To start the year we had a discussion on what the WCNA’s priorities should be for the new year. These will impact our budget allocations for the year. Some ideas floated included:
- Expanding current WCNA resident programs (curb & sidewalk repair, beautification, security and trees)
- Reducing neighborhood crime
- Historic preservation
- Supporting Bike Boulevards & Safe Trails and adding them in West Central
- Moody Park improvements
- Signage promoting the neighborhood (at gateways, on light poles, etc.)
- Historic preservation trade scholarships
- Neighborhood cleanliness
- Fixing the West Central clock at the corner of West Washington and Broadway (see photo) – it’s currently only accurate twice per day 😊
These are just some of the ideas, but we’re still considering more. You should have received an email from the WCNA asking you to complete a priorities survey. It’s also available on Facebook by looking under the “Beyond Porch Parties” page. Last, you go to our website and find it there too. Please take the short amount of time and share your thoughts.
Also at our last meeting Mr. Perry Gay, Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Downtown, visited and answered questions from the group. Mr. Gay has been a hospital administrator all over the country, from Florida to Washington, but states that he and his wife have really fallen in love with Fort Wayne and want to stay here to finish out his career. Neighbors shared concerns with noise from emergency vehicles (who are shortcutting the prescribed routes), the new parking lot and employee parking on the streets. Mr. Gay pledged to provide updates on all of these and shared his email of perry_gay@lhn.net.
Remember our membership meetings are always the third Monday of the month, starting at 7:00pm. We meet at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church at 917 West Jefferson Blvd. We’d love to see more of our neighbors at these meetings since the WCNA is for you! In the meantime, if you have any ideas for guest speakers or agenda items, please pass them on to me. You can email me at president@westcentralneighborhood.org.
See you on the front porch!
Joel Sauer, President